Lbloggers

I’m sitting in my room and shaking a little more than I should as I’m trying to give myself a pep talk. “Kiara, the video will only last for 24 hours. It’s NOT a big deal,” I kept trying to convince myself. But it WAS a big deal and it truly felt like a big deal in the moment. When you have anxiety, your mind can play a lot of tricks on you and make you believe things that simply aren’t true. Your mind is clouded with negative thoughts and it prevents you from stepping outside of your comfort zone.

But I didn’t want my mind to control the things I want to do, so I made several videos on Instagram Stories, and I was proud of myself.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Kiara, you’re a blogger and you LOVE talking. How could you be afraid to make a video?”

Well, it had nothing to do with making the video at all or talking because you’re right…I could talk for hours about anything and everything. (Just ask ANYONE who knows me.) The truth is, I was letting fear hold me back from doing something I wanted to do. That’s when I realized that I didn’t want to live that way anymore. So, I took a deep breath and began recording and posting. The sky didn’t fall and there were no horrible comments made. It was refreshing. I did something despite feeling afraid.

Why you NEED to do things that scare you:

1| You may discover a new passion

If you read the last post in my vision board series, I share a HUGE goal I hope to achieve in the next three years. For me, that’s sharing more video content and beginning a YouTube channel. TBH I’ve always been passionate about creating videos, but I’ve been TERRIFIED to simple make one because I feared the negativity from it. But I’ve learned that you will never know if you don’t try. Making the Instagram Stories videos solidified that I want to make more videos whether it’s on Instagram, for my blog, or for YouTube.

2| You gain confidence

I can’t tell how good it felt to do something I was afraid to do. To put it simply, you gain confidence when you do things that scare you. At one point in time, you thought you couldn’t do something—and then you prove yourself wrong! Let’s just say it’s such a wonderful feeling, and it’s worth the few seconds of fear you may have in the beginning.

3| You grow & gain new perspectives

Think about how much fear actually controls us. It’s the reason we don’t do SO MANY THINGS in life. You’re afraid of skydiving because you’re afraid of heights, but the second you begin falling—those fears go away. The highest point of fear is the second before you jump from the plane. Think of all the things you can learn and experience from removing fear from your life. By removing fear, you will naturally grow as a person and gain new perspectives.

4| You feel BLISSFUL

Point blank, PERIOD. You feel unbelievably blissful when you overcome a fear regardless of what that fear is. If you’re afraid to begin writing a book, start doing it anyway! The more you practice and work at that passion, the more you can feel confident (see point 1) and eventually publish that book despite the fear. Once you get over that initial feeling of fear, you can do anything and everything you want to do.

And that is the most blissful thing about doing something that scares you.

What is something YOU’RE afraid of but you WANT to do anyway? What fear have you conquered recently? Make sure to share your stories and thoughts in the comments below!

If you aren’t following me on social media, you might not know that I got engaged in July. Of course, I’m going to share all the details on how he proposed, but I also plan to share my REAL THOUGHTS on being engaged. I would also LOVE to hear your engagement stories in the comments below, so make sure to tell me all those love stories because I am a sucker for love and romance.

How he proposed:

It was Saturday, July 15th—four years to the day that Josh and I had first “met.” I use that term loosely because we met while working for our university as Orientation Leaders in July, 2013. We got to know each other well because the team was a small group of 15 people, so there were many long nights of talking with everyone and hanging out as college students.

Fast forward four years later, and we found ourselves back at university for a day trip. Orientation sessions were going on since it was July, so everything felt extremely sentimental to us and our relationship. As avid planners, Josh and I had talked about this as early as fall of last year because I had not been back to school since I graduated in 2015, so it was long overdue for a visit. Nothing seemed strange about the plan, but Josh knew all along that’s where he would propose.

We got in the car and drove off for the short hour and a half car ride. We jammed out to Bruno Mars (P.S. Can’t WAIT to see him in concert on the 15th!) and drove to our favorite restaurant for a late breakfast. Our meal couldn’t have been more perfect and delicious.

We stopped over to visit one of Josh’s roommates from college who works for the university. We caught up on life and talked for an hour before he had to go to work. Then Josh and I headed to campus to walk the trail along the river, and visit some of the buildings that had been remolded since I graduated.

After walking for awhile, we visited our favorite spot on campus. When we had first met and throughout our first year of dating, we spent a lot of time on this hill that overlooked the mountains on campus. It’s without a doubt, the most beautiful view at school. Josh told me he had to grab something from the car, and from the trunk he pulls out a cooler, which I thought was perfect since I really needed water.

I find a plastic bag in the cooler and in it is a picnic with two PB&J sandwiches and Reese’s peanut butter cups. And I’m pumped thinking, “Awe, he knows me so well. He brought more food.”

But, boy, can that man plan a surprise.

He says, “So, I thought this was special because on our first date you packed my favorite food and took me on picnic to one of your favorite places in Buffalo to begin our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend. So, I thought we could have the same picnic with the same foods at our favorite place on campus to end our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.” He goes on to telling me some wonderful, amazing things about us and our relationship before officially asking to marry me. We cried and hugged each other before I even thought about putting the ring on. It was the most beautifully romantic moment of my life.

I had NO IDEA it was coming, and you can clearly see that from the photos as I was sobbing my eyes out from his proposal. It was so personal and significant to our relationship. Then I see Josh wave to someone, and out comes his friend we met with earlier holding a camera. He got photos of the proposal, which also meant the entire world to me, and it still makes me cry to think about Josh planning this with his friends.

After calling our family and close friends, we got changed and we were able to get some photos that day of our engagement.

The next day, My parents came down to Pennsylvania to visit with Josh’s parents, and we celebrated with champagne, dinner and dessert. The weekend was simply magical, and I couldn’t ask for a better way to begin my engagement with the love of my life.

So, now we can get on to the details on how I REALLY feel about being engaged.

1| I’m excited to begin this new chapter

I love my fiancé, and I can’t wait to begin this journey of planning our wedding together because HELLO, we are both disturbingly organized. Planning and organizing makes us happy, so of course wedding planning will be so much fun for both of us.

2| I’m nervous because TBH a lot of people judge YOUR wedding

It has only been a month, so I don’t even have a full wedding planned yet. I don’t even have much of the wedding planned altogether. But, people have made so many comments about why I should never choose *that* venue or why my colors should definitely be *mint green and coral.* Everyone is so quick to throw shade at the plans for your big day and that’s wrong. Don’t ever judge what someone wants to do for their day because it’s personal to the bride and groom…not you.

3| I can’t get over the love we received on our engagement

That weekend alone, I had calls, texts, Instagram messages telling me how thrilled and excited people were for our engagement—you name it, I had it. The amount of love Josh and I received that weekend was insurmountable to anything I’ve felt from family and friends. It was beautiful, and it reminded me how truly blessed I am to have the family and friends I have in my life.

4| Everyone randomly tells you about THEIR wedding…

And your girl is NOT here for it because to be honest, it’s a little awkward. Several people had asked me something related to my wedding, and not even 10 seconds into me answering their question is when they would tell me something about their wedding more than 10 years ago. “Well, back in the day, we didn’t have wedding websites, so why would you have one now?” Or, they will make snide comments about your decisions for your wedding (see number 2) and then proceed to tell you why you should do what THEY did for THEIR wedding. It’s weird and rude, especially when it comes off condescending. Please don’t look down on someone for whatever their wedding decisions are, and don’t try to convince them to change their mind by telling them what you did for your wedding.

So tell me, how did your husband/fiancé propose? Do you have any tips or blog posts related to wedding planning that you can share? Please send me links in the comments below!

Hey, July. You were the best month to date this year.

And no, I’m not only saying that because I got engaged. But, I will say that was a HUGE part of it! Today I’m sharing all the wonderful things I’m looking forward to this month, and I would love to know what you’re excited about now that it’s August! Make sure to leave your plans in the comments below!

1| Wedding Planning

So, if you didn’t hear the news on Instagram or Twitter, your girl got engaged! It has been crazy the last few weeks and I’ve been taking every moment in as we begin this new chapter in our lives. If you want to hear more about how my fiancé (still weird to say) proposed, leave a comment below, and I’ll share all the details and photos in a post!

2| AuGUEST

Who doesn’t love a good pun, #amiright?! So, I’ve been making a ton of plans in August to visit with family and friends that I’ve literally claimed the month of August to be AuGUEST. I’m so excited to see friends and family members in our home here in PA, especially with the recent engagement—there will be so much to celebrate and enjoy this month.

3| Focus on Fitness

Because #WeddingBod, right? I don’t believe in going overboard with not eating and working out seven days a week just to fit in a dress for a day. That’s not me and everyone knows it. I am passionate about healthy living and working out consistently, but I have been falling off track because of celebrating the engagement. So, it’s time to get back to where I was at a month ago. Do you have any workouts you’ve been loving on YouTube? Make sure to send them my way!

4| BRUNO MARS Concert

Because of all the excitement of getting engaged, I completely forgot about going to see BRUNO MARS this month! If you know anything about me, you know that I’ve been loving him since the beginning and his new album is FIRE. So I cannot wait to dance all night long without a care in the world! Have you been to any concerts recently? Which ones have you been loving or looking forward to?

5| Enjoying engagement

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the hustle and stress of wedding planning because there are so many expectations and Pinterest-worthy pins your friends and family are sharing. But, I’m simply looking forward to being engaged to my incredible fiancé and enjoying every moment of planning our wedding together.

So tell me, what are you happy about now that it’s August? What plans do you have this month that you’re excited about? Make sure to share in the comments below!

HEY HEY HEY

So, hopefully you guys saw the tweet or Facebook post I shared last week that explained why this post didn’t go live on Monday. Long story short, I was in the middle of updating my blog design and working on some backend work for the blog when some of my drafted posts got deleted. Thankfully, only two were deleted and not a month’s worth of content, so I’m blessed that a ton of work wasn’t gone.

But, I had to rewrite this post and I’m currently in the middle of my busy season at work where I have FIVE events over the course of three consecutive weekends. I had to compromise and let this week’s post go and share it the following Monday (AKA today).

Now that you’re caught up to speed on what happened last week, let’s get into the third and final post in my vision board series where I share my personal vision board for the next three years. I’ve never been very open about sharing my goals, especially on the Internet, so this is a HUGE step for me. We’re going to go through my board by “categories,” so it’s a little easier to follow and read.

Travel:

This category is very straight-forward because I want to travel. One of the biggest things I want to do is travel to England and Ireland with Josh among many other places in and out of the United States. I know that lavish traveling isn’t going to be an option, so I don’t plan to take month-long excursions in Europe. But I plan to be smart about planning and spending money on traveling. What’s one place you have traveled to recently that you have LOVED? Share your experiences in the comment below!

Career:

Focus on my career: I’m in full-time marketing, and I can honestly say that I’m truly passionate about what I do. I love my job, and I couldn’t ask for a better-fitting job to begin my marketing career. My goal is to really focus on learning, growing and developing my skills in the field over the next three years.

Volunteer: I know this doesn’t sound a career-based goal, but it is…so hear me out. There are many opportunities to volunteer your skills and talents for free to non-profit organizations. My goal is to dedicate some time outside of work to volunteer my marketing skills to an organization that can benefit from it. Now, I’m not promoting working for free, but I also believe in helping where you can, especially if it’s working toward a cause you’re passionate about.

YouTube: Because #Accountability is a real thing, I decided to share that my biggest goal for the next three years is to START MAKING VIDEOS. Keep in mind, this is something that I’ve wanted to do for YEARS, but I’ve been too terrified to do it because I feared the judgement that would come from it. Not anymore. I hope to start creating video content for the blog to grow and connect with an audience I’m not currently reaching.

Home & Life:

Engagement & Marriage: Y’all, I swear this wasn’t planned because I wasn’t planning to get engaged so quickly when I created this board. So, this is one plan in my vision board that’s already in the works! Sometime in 2018, I will marry the love of my life. P.S. do you have any wedding planning posts from your blog? Share your links in the comments!

Buy a House: Adulting is SO REAL, am I right? Although Josh and I love our townhouse, we can’t have pets here, and we are hurting without a dog in our lives, so we are beginning the process of house hunting. No, that’s not the only reason we are house hunting. We are doing it for many other reasons, but I will say owning a dog is a reason on our list. This is a huge goal I want to accomplish by 2020.

Minimalism & Simple Living: I began my minimalism and simple living journey over a year ago, and I love what it has done to my life. I want to continue the process of decluttering my life and focus on living a simple, intentional life. This is always a work in progress, so I’m hoping to continue this from now through 2020.

Own a Dog: Because TBH, I feel like my life is meaningless without a dog. No other comments needed.

So, now that you’ve read my short series on Vision Boards, tell me—what goals and dreams do you have for YOUR vision board? Are you ready to make your vision board to help you achieve your goals? Make sure to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Wait, Fourth of July is TOMORROW?

2017, you’re flying by WAY too fast for my liking, and I’m sure other people agree. I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through the year. Although these next two months will be filled with work events, long weekends and so much more, I can say that I’m looking forward to the month ahead. So, I’m sharing five things I’m happy about now that it’s July.

1| Fourth of July

Hot dogs. Ice Cream. Backyard Games. Beer. Bonfires. Fireworks. And SO. MUCH. MORE. What’s not to love about celebrating your country all while enjoying time with family and friends? What are your plans for Fourth of July? Do you have a huge party? Or, do you keep it casual and hangout with some family? Do you have any holiday traditions around this time of year?

2| Weekend Visits

I had one of my best friends visit last weekend, and now I’m preparing for another friend to come later this month. Needless to say, we’re going to have a staycation and enjoy some local things in PA like visiting museums, touring beaches, take a boat tour, and more embarrassing tourist things!

3| Focusing on Goals

If you missed last month’s post, I talked about my six month update on my 2017 goals. Since then, I’ve been working to cross off more of my goals for the year, which I have done by reading 12 books, and focusing on my vision board, which you’ll see more coming next week when I launch my Vision Board series!

4| Living a Blissful Life

Whether you need a reminder because you’re in a valley in life, or your high on the highest mountain—there’s always room for bliss in your life. I’m looking forward to adding simple forms of bliss this month by making time for family and friends, and focusing some of my time to self care. How will you add some bliss to your life this month?

5| Summer Bucket Lists

It’s peak summertime, which means there are a lot of things I want to do this month like kayaking with friends, go to the beach, go to a local concert, take a day trip with Josh, and so much more. Summer is all about enjoying the extra daylight for fun activities, and time with friends and family. What’s on your summer bucket list? Make sure to share in the comments below!

Do you have any trips or fun activities planned for the month? What are you looking forward to in Jul? Make sure to share what you’re happy about now that it’s July in the comments below!

About the Blogger

I believe it's important to find your bliss in life. You should do what makes your soul happy. I created this blog to bring a little bliss to your life with posts on beauty, fashion and life. Feel free to email me: theblissfullybrunetteblog@gmail.com